Hane Kage
by Okamira
Summary: A girl is found in the middle of the woods. But littel does everyone know that she will be the best ninja and worst threat that Konoha has ever seen.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! I know it's been a while and I'm really sorry for not posting! :( Well... I've been going over my works and editing them... a lot... so this is an entirely new version!! Hope you enjoy it and PLEASE review!!! I really need it!**

**Thanks,**

**~Okamira**

Three ninja made their way stealthily across the dense forest to the hidden Village of the Leaves, Konoha. No any traveler or onlooker it would seem that they were flying but, if one were to observe them closely, they might see the split second where their feel would brush a tree branch, or hear the soft, almost silent thud of sandals on wood. Suddenly, one of the flying ninja, a man with silver hair stopped. His two companions were quick to notice and quickly rushed to their leader's side.

"What is it Mizuki?" one of the men said, his hand lingering by his weapons pouch as if expecting to be attacked.

"I thought I head something." Mizuki replied in a low monotone, eyes darting around the forest, "Fan out."

As soon as the order left his mouth the three men disappeared in blurs, scouting the surrounding area for the source of the noise.

"Guys!" one voice came cutting through the silent wood, "I found something."

Mizuki and his other companion materialized instantly to where the discovery had been made. What they saw surprised them. It was a girl. A girl who could not have been more than ten years old was laying facedown in front of the three ninja soaked with blood that was still slowly seeping from a wound positioned squarely between her shoulder blades. The weapon, a long deadly, twisted dagger still lay embedded in her flesh. Mizuki kneeled down next to the girl and grasped the end of the dagger, gently removing it from the unconscious figure who gave an involuntary shudder at the removal of the blood soaked weapon.

"Mizuki," one of the ninja said uneasily, "She's lost a lot of blood and, by the looks of that wound the dagger's been in there for a few days now. We should get her back to Konoha as soon as possible..."

The silver haired ninja gave a faint nod, the only sign that he had even heard his companion speak. He quickly snaked his hands under the girl and turned her over careful so they could now see her face. Her skin was pale, a perfect contrast to her long raven hair. But, under a slightly closer inspection he discovered that the skin under her eyes was not red because of the vas amount of blood that covered it, but it seemed natural, permanent at least. The same was to be said about the two dots at the start of each of her dark, thin eyebrows. Two bands of cloth, the same color as the 'dyed' skin, bound her hair; one around her right bangs about two inched from the tips of her hair and the other around a small bunch of hair near her left ear. She was like nothing he had ever seen...

"I can carry her Mizuki," one of the ninja said.

"No," Mizuki replied abruptly, "I'll carry her."

As Mizuki carefully lifted the girl she opened one of her eyes weakly, revealing a sea green orb that flashed with fear and panic as it took him in, but as suddenly as she had opened the solitary eye, it closed once more.

"Let's go"

And with that the three ninja took off into the night.

The first thing she remembered was his face. His skin being framed with what looked like a shining silver light and eyes that looked at her in wonder. Who was he? Had he been an angel sent to take her to heaven. No. If he were anything it was probably a demon to take her to the fiery depths of hell where she belonged. But... he had looked so innocent... The next thing she was conscious of was the voices. A male voice and female voice that were near her when she had no strength to even open her eyes.

"Mizuki, what has this girl been through?" it was a female's voice. One that was only slightly harsh with an edge of concern to her alto tones.

"I already told you Kurenai, I have no idea. My team found her like that. We don't know what happened... I hoped you could tell me."

"She's been through hell, that's what. It was obvious from the examinations that she has good control of her chakras... the entire system was suffering from over usage and several bones had been broken as well. It looks like she got beat up pretty badly."

_You should have seen the other guys..._

"Is there anything more you can tell me?" the masculine voice was pleading and the hardened voice of a professional had dropped.

"I'm sorry Mizuki. She'll live but I have no idea when she'll awaken. I promise I'll tell you when she's well enough to talk."

"Thank you."

A door closed and one set of feet left the room and the sounds lapsed into a dull at the back of the girl's mind.

When the girl finally opened her eyes almost four days had passed. She took in her surroundings with weary eyes. It was a room. Something she had not stayed in for years. But it was not a regular room, it was a hospital room. Why was she in the hospital?

The door began to creak, a sign that one was about to enter. The girl quickly untangled herself from the covers and, in a flash, was behind the intruding figure.

"What am I do - ah!" A searing pain came from between her shoulder blades as her brain tried to comprehend the immense pain. She found her legs giving out from beneath her and her hands shot out in front of her body to break the fall.

"You shouldn't be moving." the 'intruder' said gently, lifting the young girl and placing her on the bed once more. "I'm surprised that you even managed to get behind me in that condition."

"Who are you. Where am I."

The woman sighed. "My name is Kurenai, I'm a temporary nurse here at the Konoha Hospital."

_Konoha? I really must have traveled further that I thought..._

"What's your name?"

The girl snapped out of her thoughts and replied carefully, still not sure if she should trust this 'Kurenai' figure. "Kajira. Takashi Kajira."

"Well then, Kajira, you should thank the heavens that Mizuki's team found you when they did. One day later and you wouldn't have made it."

"Lucky me." Kajira replied dryly. Not particularly caring for this woman's motherly instincts.

Kureani sighed once more. This really was an interesting child. "How old are you?"

"Ten."

"What village are you from?"

Kajira stared at the woman. "What makes you think I am from a village."

"Well, your chakras seemed to have been trained. I just assumed-"

"Anything I know is not thanks to a village. I taught myself what I needed to know to survive."

"What about your parents?"

"Killed when I was five."

"You've been on your own all this time?" Kurenai could not mask the surprise in her voice.

"No. I was taken in by an old couple who were retired ninja from the Hidden Rain."

"What happened to them?"

"Murdered. And before you ask another question I'll answer a few of them and save you the trouble," she let a slight sneer into her voice as she said the last part. She was growing tired of this stranger poking holes into her life but, she asked for it... "It was three years ago and I was out hunting. When I came back they were dead. Murdered by a group of rogue ninja. And yes, I've been living on my own since then."

"I see." Kurenai said softly, pretending not to notice the tears beginning to well in Kajira's green eyes. "And your injury?"

Kajira paused, a look of evil contentment slowly crossed her features as she replied quietly, "I found them. I finally found the bastards who killed them and I made them pay." A sadistic tone crept into her voice, "They didn't know I existed, never thought I'd find them. But after three years I had them cornered, my plan was flawless. I found their camp and killed them all. But not right away. I wanted to make them suffer for putting me through this. I maimed them, cut their Achilles tendon so the couldn't run, watched their tendons fold back each other. Their screams... it was amazing. I let them suffer and finally, after an hour or two, took mercy on them. But I wasn't good enough. One of them was missing and he managed to sink a dagger into my shoulder, but not even he was fast enough. He met the same fate as his friends!"

Kurenai stared at this child. _How can she talk about killing in such a way?! This... this is just surreal to me..._ "I see." she said, regaining her composure, "I will be back soon. Please don't try to leave. You are in no condition to be moving about."

Kajira stared at Kurenai steadily before inclining her head to show that she would not move.

"Thank you." Kurenai said softly, closing the door behind her as she leaf the room. _I need to get to the bottom of this._


	2. Chapter 2

**Here it is! Chapter two! Sorry it's been taking so long to update.... I'm working on three things at once and I just alternate which one I'm updating...**

**Enjoy**

**~Okamira**

"Thank you for coming with me Mizuki." Kurenai said, pushing off of a tree.

"No." Mizuki replied, looking over his shoulder, "Thank you for asking me to come with you."

"Are we close to the place you found her?" The red eyed woman asked, looking around her for any sort of sign that someone had been there.

"Yes." he replied once more, "It was right in the clearing up ahead." He came to a halt, Kurenai stopping a few feet behind him, watching as he knelt down to a spot of grass coated in a now brown substance. "This is the place."

Mizuki knelt down to brush his fingers on the stained grass, "How are you planning on finding the place where she fought?"

"With this." Kurenai replied, taking a scroll out of her pack. She opened it, revealing a summoning sign, and bit one of her fingers before completing a set of hand-signs and placing her bloodied palm on the parchment. She was momentarily engulfed in a cloud of smoke before it cleared, revealing her and a small, brown pug.

"One of Kakashi's dogs?" Mizuki asked, looking at the small canine who was scratching himself behind the ears.

Kurenai nodded, closing the scroll and placing it back in her bag, "I asked if I could use Pakkun for this mission. He should be able to follow the trail of blood Kajira left behind."

The dog, Pakkun, waddled over to the patch of bloodied grass and examined it closely, "I assume this scent is what I'm supposed to be following?"

"Yes." Kurenai replied, "Could you track it in the direction that leads away from the village?"

Pakkun nodded, smelling the grass one more time, "I've got the trail. Let's go."

They had been traveling for almost two days, "Are you sure you're following the right scent?" Mizuki asked.

"Yeah." Pakkun said, not bothering to stop, "This is the right scent alright."

Mizuki shook his head, "It just doesn't make sense. With a wound that large Kajira shouldn't have been able to last this long."

"We just have to trust Pakkun." Kurenai said quietly.

Suddenly the small dog stopped. "There's a camp right up ahead."

Kurenai and Mizuki exchanged a glance and nodded, pulling out their kunai before making their walk cautiously ahead. What met their gaze made Kurenai drop her kunai in surprise. The forrest floor was littered with blood and there were at least ten bodies that had already begun to decay. The stench of death was almost overwhelming. Mizuki surveyed the battlefield wearing a cold mask to cover his own awe and disgust, he slowly waked over to one of the bodies and turned the dead man over on his back. Bugs had begun eating the rotting flesh of his open eyes and the face was still frozen in a look of utter fear, but what made Mizuki curious were the slash marks that covered the man's body.

"Kurenai, take a look at this." he said, signaling to his companion. "Do these marks look like they were made by a kunai?"

"No, no they don't." Kurenai said, examining the wounds closely. "Hand me your sword Mizuki."

Once she had the sword in her grasp Kurenai quickly sliced the man's leg, "This wound looks more like it." she said, examining the differences between the wounds. "But it looks like what ever made this one was thicker... probably not made of metal either."

"But Kajira wasn't found with any sort of weapon that could make these marks and we didn't come by anything with her scent that could've made them. Pakkun," the dog's ear perked upon hearing his name, "are there any other scents here other than Kajira's and the people who were killed?"

The dog walked around the clearing once before answering, "Nope. No other scents."

Kurenai began examining the other bodies carefully. Most of them bore the same slashes that the first man had but many of them also had large puncture wounds that could go through the body. She shook her head, "I have no idea how she did this... it looks less like revenge and more like a massacre... her wounds don't even compare to the damage done to all these bodies!"

Mizuki placed a hand on her shoulder, "I don't know either. The most we can do is take one of these bodies back to Konoha and let professionals look at it."

Taking a deep breath, Kurenai nodded. "What do you think of the Hokage's asking if she should stay in Konoha?"

"I think she needs to be watched." Mizuki answered after a slight pause, "Whatever she can do there's no questioning that she's powerful... she could end up being beneficial to Konoha."

"...we should be getting back."

"Yes, we should."

Kajira looked up from her book with lazy eyes, "So you're finally back."

The door closed softly as Kurenai entered the room looking tired. "Yes. I'm sorry it took so long."

"You went back to the place where I killed them." It wasn't a question.

Kurenai paused, _I won't gain anything by lying to her..._ "Yes. Mizuki and I went together."

"Mizuki..." Kajira said slowly, "That is the name of the man who was always visiting when I was drifting in and out of consciousness..."

"Yes. He is also the man who found you."

The young girl paused, contemplating this new information. "Does he still wish to talk to me?"

Kurenai sighed, "He's right outside the door."

"May he come in?"

The door opened once more, this time not with the caution used when Kurenai entered but with a confidence that had not been shown to the door before.

"Hello Kajira-chan, I am pleased that you are finally well enough so that I might talk to you."

The raven-haired girl stared at the man, her eyes scanning him, analyzing him. She quickly swung her legs off of her bed, stood up and bowed before Mizuki with her forehead pressed against the floor **(A/N the typical Japanese bowing position)** "Thank you for saving me Mizuki-sama. My life is yours now. Please do what you want with it."

Mizuki stared at the girl, stunned. When he looked over at Kurenai he found that she too wore a similar expression of confusion and disbelief. The white haired chuunin knelt down beside the girl, her head still pressed against the floor. "What makes you say that your life is mine?"

Not getting up, Kajira replied, "If it weren't for you this life I called my own would no longer exist. Therefore it is yours."

"I do not want your life Kajira." Kajira looked up, an expression of confusion crossing her face. Seeing her look of confusion Mizuki quickly continued, "Just think of it as, I'm giving your life back to you. But," he paused, "There is one thing I would like you to consider."

"Of course!" Kajira replied with more emotion than she had shown in years. This man was different... he was kind, unlike anyone she had ever met. He had given her back her life; she could do this one thing for the man who had saved her.

"I want you to stay in Konoha, to train here in the Villiage, to call this place your home."

"..." Kajira didn't know how to respond to this request. She had been expecting Mizuki to ask her if she would kill someone, or do a mission, or retrieve a valuable object. Never had it once crossed her mind that anyone would ask her to stay.

"You could stay with me." Mizuki continued, "I have more than enough for you. Could you just thing about it?"

Kajira was not sitting with her back resting on the hospital bed. No one had ever wanted her to stay anywhere. They always told her to leave. The old couple she once lived with seemed to have existed more than a lifetime ago. Their kindness was distant, only faded memories. Now... now there was a man who had saved her for no reason and he was offering her a chance at something that had never even been an option in her life... he was offering her a home.

Mizuki noticed her silence and quickly added, "You don't have to make a decision now-"

"Yes."

He did a quick double-take. "What?"

Taking a deep breath, Kajira repeated, "Yes. I'll stay here. With you."

A large grin came onto Mizuki's face. "I'm glad... I've always wanted a little sister." he said, winking at Kajira who, in turn, blushed.

Kurenai, who had been watching the exchange, shook her head. She would have never pinned Mizuki down as the one who would bring Kajira out of her shell. "You can leave the hospital as soon as you'd like." she said, glancing at the latest report, "You can start at the Academy starting tomorrow if you're feeling up to it."

The girl looked from Kurenai to Mizuki and nodded, turning away from them to hide the tears that were threatening to overflow. She could not show weakness in front of anyone. It was part of the ninja code. But... maybe just this once... Turning around, Kajira let her mask shatter and ran to Mimzuki, throwing her arms around him and burying her head in his chest, crying softly.

Mizuki, surprised, stroked Kajira's hair, letting her cry onto his chuunin vest. He caught Kurenai's gaze and saw the unspoken question in her eyes. When were they going to ask her about the wounds found on the men? He simply shook his head, mouthing the words, _that can wait for another day_. For now, he was just thankful that Kajira had decided to stay. He couldn'y explain the bond that had formed between him and this girl he barely knew but... he wanted to protect her, he wanted to be the family she never had.

"It's okay imotou. It's okay."

**(A/N: Imotou means little sister. Mizuki only loves Kajira as family, nothing else!)**

**So.... how was it?! Please review!**


End file.
